Career
Sir Desmond was called to the Bar in the Middle Temple in London in 1964, and appointed Queen's Counsel in 1984. He is one of the most high-profile criminal Queen's Counsel in England. He is a member of the Criminal Bar Association and the International Association of Prosecutors. In 2002, the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed him Deputy Prosecutor for the Special Court for Sierra Leone, at the level of an Assistant Secretary-General. Annan later promoted Sir Desmond to the post of Chief Prosecutor at the higher level of Under Secretary-General in 2005. He brought about the arrest of Charles Taylor, former President of Liberia, who was convicted of war crimes at the Hague in 2011. His role as a successful defence counsel has led to The Times referring to him as the "Scarlet Pimpernel" because he has saved so many people from execution in Commonwealth countries that still carry capital punishment. From 1980-95, he was the elected councillor for the largest Ward in the City of London.
In 2003, de Silva was sent as envoy by the United Nations Development Programme to persuade Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica and his government to surrender indicted war criminals.
De Silva's legal expertise includes war crimes, espionage, treason, drugs, terrorism, human rights, white-collar fraud and sports law. His clients have included Harry Redknapp, John Terry, Ron Atkinson, Hans Segers, Lawrence Dallaglio, Graham Rix, Lee Bowyer and Jamie Osborne. De Silva is a member of the Governing Council of the Manorial Society. In October 2011, with the approval of Prime Minister David Cameron, Sir Desmond was appointed to head a Review into collusion by the security services and other agencies of the state into the 1989 murder of the high profile Belfast lawyer Pat Finucane. The report was published on 12 December 2012, and acknowledged "a willful and abject failure by successive Governments"; however, Finucane's family called the De Silva report a "sham."
Read more about this topic: Desmond Lorenz De Silva
Famous quotes containing the word career:
“A black boxer’s career is the perfect metaphor for the career of a black male. Every day is like being in the gym, sparring with impersonal opponents as one faces the rudeness and hostility that a black male must confront in the United States, where he is the object of both fear and fascination.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)
“In time your relatives will come to accept the idea that a career is as important to you as your family. Of course, in time the polar ice cap will melt.”
—Barbara Dale (b. 1940)
“I’ve been in the twilight of my career longer than most people have had their career.”
—Martina Navratilova (b. 1956)